There was a time, you see, when Riley was Randy Newman, when he loved L.A., was consumed with all the trappings, the quirks, the star-making potential of a place that always could use one more.

It had been a spirited run, those nine years on the Lakers' sidelines, those four championship seasons that had produced star after star after star. Magic. Worthy. Kareem. Byron. Coop.

And now Riley was contemplating Kobe Bryant, the next golden child of the gold and royal purple.

He paused, exhaled and reflected on a tapestry about to add another enduring image. Immediately, his thoughts turned to Magic Johnson.

"I think he's most like Magic. I think he understands the whole game," Riley said of the 22-year-old guard his team will attempt to contain in today's nationally televised game at Staples Center. "He's the real deal. And he's going to be the real deal for a long time."

The vision that Riley fixates on is of Bryant hugging last season's championship trophy, offering the same caress Michael Jordan had offered a few short years before.

"Maybe he knew why he should be hugging Shaq, kissing that trophy. Maybe he can remember Magic Johnson hugging Kareem Abdul-Jabbar," Riley said. "Maybe it was spontaneous, because he understands how special it was, understood the traditions.

"I think he has shown that he has what it takes to play in Los Angeles. He has shown he can play in a city that's the ultimate for winning NBA championships."

The way Riley talks about Los Angeles, it is not as much a region as a state of mind.

"There is something very unique about playing in Los Angeles. I can't argue that," he said. "L.A. will make you full of yourself. It happened to me, when I was going through that run.

"I was young, sort of an immature championship coach, reveling in the glory and the love they have for winners out there. It takes a certain kind of personality to discipline yourself and to understand why you're at the top.

"L.A., to me, is the greatest team to be part of -- when you're winning championships."

Riley has seen the city both seduce and scar those who thought they had what it takes.

"Yes, it can overwhelm you," he said. "That's where I think Kobe is at and knowing what to do, understanding what it is that it takes to be successful in L.A. If a player can handle it, I think he will handle it. But there are a lot of different ways that you have to handle it."

Some handle it better than others. For as much as he loved playing with the Lakers, Heat guard Eddie Jones also found it an uncomfortable fit at the end of his tenure in Los Angeles. Trade rumors and expectations beat him down.

He exhaled when he was dealt to Charlotte, yet says Los Angeles remains among his favorite places to play.

"You look at Eddie Jones, and I'm not sure what the problem was," Riley said. "There was so much press about trades and things like that, and it was almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. He was being traded every month and it sort of took on a life of its own."

Through the latest rough times, Bryant has attacked his detractors with a smile.

Riley has seen that smile before, the ebullience that, in another era, made Magic Johnson the soul of this city, even as he was claiming a lead role Abdul-Jabbar had previously held as his own.

"Some players, you can tell from the start that they have it. Kobe has had it from Day One," Riley said. "He had the same flair and flash and substance that Earvin Johnson had.

"Earvin had the game and the mentality from the get go. It took Kobe a couple of years to understand his greatness and how his greatness best applies to transform his team from good to great."

These days, the rough edges still are being worked out, as the Lakers struggle to regain a champion's consistency. Yet just as Johnson was forgiven his turnover-filled nights, so, too, has Bryant been given the benefit of the doubt.

He is the next generation, but also a reflection of Riley's generation of Laker, a continued embodiment of Showtime.

"If you ask me when I knew Kobe would be special for the Lakers, I'd say when Jerry West traded Vlade Divac for him," Riley said. "That's when I knew this kid was special.

"He has a knack. I don't think anybody expected him to get to this level this fast. The fact that he is a facsimile of Michael Jordan is borne out of his nature to model himself out of one of the greats. There is nothing wrong with that."